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As far as we can remember, the expectations for the most special night of the year are always very high. Where to go? With whom would we like to spend it? Where is the best, the biggest, the most impressive party? The one where we will be sure to pay an appropriate tribute to this year ending… The best way to begin this year coming…

Year after year, we get to know ourselves better.

And we reduce the ritual of passing to a new year to the essential. To the simple things.

To enjoying the creative cooking talent of a friend. Getting acquainted with the menu over a cup of coffee. And then set to the kitchen for a few hours of meditative “cooking together”.

To go out for a walk and let the winter magic inspire you.

Until the sun goes to sleep for the last time in this year.

To just enjoy being together , conscious of all we have, and of all we don’t have. And to feel a sparkling happiness thinking of the things to come in 2011.

To remember our childish side and play games together. To laugh, and shout, and smile. And at midnight kiss each other with very shiny eyes…

In the night, the first snow of the year had fallen. The fields were white as far as you could see, the air was fresh and clean, and the sky intensely blue.

Ulla and me, we had planned to pay a visit to a nearby organic farm, the official reason being that we wanted to buy some of their delicious goat and sheep cheeses. With their cheeses the farm had won many prizes!

Oh, but their was much more to it… Get to taste many kinds of cheeses in the farm shop, try the newly opened café (hoping they would have very nice cakes), walk around the farm and pay a visit to the goats and sheeps,…

And of course, of course, take a stroll in the woods around the farm and enjoy the sight of the Danish countryside in winter…

“I like to have a hobby that is meaningful”, said David this morning at breakfast table.

We were having a long Saturday brunch with fresh-made little breads, a big bowl of fresh fruits, greek yogurt and a newly-found extravagant eggs recipe*. Oh, and the homemade apple juice… There had been a lot of apples this summer, and they had been pressing many liters of liquid joy for the winter…

But the most wonderful of all was standing proudly at the center of the table: a pot of homemade honey. Oh, the homemade honey. It was a real delicacy, so sweet, it smelled to flowers and looked like liquid gold. A real treasure.

After the breakfast, we paid a visit to the bees in the garden.

For the not-so-experienced, there was a full-fledge equipment.

We greeted each of the three families, checking for a healthy queen every time. The first queen we found was Fanny. Can you see her? She is quite big and has a blue mark on her head. You know, royalties always do have particular signs of nobelty.

Each house was carefully reviewed. Inspected with expert eyes. The little bees were fed, in preparation for the tough Scandinavian winter months.

Certainly the most satisfying moment is when you collect the fruits of this little wonder that the bees created…

For people who don’t like to be trapped in a sad building for several hours, feeling obliged to politely go from room to room, carefully watching every sculpture, every painting, reading the corresponding descriptions that didn’t say much anyway (“Painting by Claude Monet, 1947, blue period”).

But in this museum, no… In this museum, everything was meant to let visitors enjoy art freely and without rules. There was actually no obligation to like a piece of art. The important thing was to experience it and let it act on you.

This is what she had heard. And so she decided to try, to see if maybe she’d like it… To step into the car on a bright sunny morning and drive up the coast to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.

It was a house with a lot of love. You could feel it as soon as you’d walk in.

In the afternoon, a huge plate of empanadas had been cooked by Fanny. She said she had cooked another such quantity a few days ago for her other son, before leaving for the trip. You see, this is how Chilean mothers are.

In the kitchen, the lovely couple P. and D. were already busy mixing spices, cutting vegetables, melting butter. Some glasses of red wine were served, and we all gathered there and talked – crossed conversations, in different languages – here Danish, there Spanish, and then again English.

Later, at the table, it felt good just having this time together, enjoying the food. There were laughters, more conversations in different languages, and a wine competition between French, Italian and Chilean wines.

There was music, and some dancing. “You have to take the tango to your living room”, she’d always say. “This brings you happiness”.

Oh, yes, we had promised to write regularly… And then… You see, we left the bright sun of Provence and set our course for Denmark.

We are not really “free” yet, because we are here for Thomas’ last assignment, and also for his therapist training. But even like that, it’s a treat to be here. There is a little bit of magic to Denmark.

Already when we approached the German coast to take the ferry, we started to have this “Denmark feeling”. On the boat, there was a clear blue sky above the Northern Sea and a fresh wind was messing up the passengers’ hair.

We arrived at our friends Ulla and John’s home in the countryside, on the island of Lolland, just on time for an afternoon coffee in the garden. We could feel the very light Scandinavian sun caressing our skins. Everything was so peaceful.

Ulla is a an amazing cook, extremely creative and cosmopolite in her way to set a menu and invent recipes. Later in the evening, we enjoyed a delicious dinner. There was a veal stew with chanterelles and then the dessert. Ah, the dessert… It was a sort of trifle with cream, berries, almond paste… A real explosion of sugary flavours served with a sweet white wine.

Our minds had slowed down quite a lot already as we took an evening walk through the countryside around the house. Even quite late, the skies were still not dark and the full moon stood bright above the lake and its water lilies…